How to turn business into war

Negotiation touches every part of our lives. Relationships in business and in our personal lives are negotiated. And the skills to do it effectively can often mean the difference between getting what you want or losing out. You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate!

In the first section of the book,How to be a Great Negotiator, written by property economist, investor and developer Neville Berkowitz, the characteristic traits of a great negotiator are explored in short, bite-sized nuggets of advice.

Over the next 132 days, we will bring you the traits needed to succeed at the art of negotiating.

(Courtesy of PersonalEmpowerment.co)

6 Arrogance

A sure-fire way to upset a negotiation and lose friends, respect, and clients, is to display arrogance or rudeness to the other party. The idea that such behavior puts you in a “power position” is woefully misguided. All negotiations are relationships, and all successful relationships operate on fundamental principles of mutual consideration, respect, and positive intentions. A strategy of arrogance, or holding to a superior position to try to make the other party feel inferior in order to gain the upper hand, is a bad gambit. It’s a win-lose strategy based in underlying weakness, insecurity, and immaturity.

It creates needless mistrust and ill will, which is bad for business in the short- and long-term.

If you arrogantly try to establish or exploit an advantageous power base, you may win the short-term battle, but you turn business into war. And war is far more costly than profitable in the long-term. No one likes an arrogant person. And no paying customer or client will be loyal to one.